


in the mourning

by duelistkingdom



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, and also mourning :), and also pain :), call it a parallel to dsod seto, call it sad, i don't care, my writer's block got fixed writing this, this is a simple fic about friendship :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26463433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duelistkingdom/pseuds/duelistkingdom
Summary: pharaoh atem is dead. priest set is struggling to come to terms with the death of his cousin and what that means for his own future.
Relationships: Atem & Priest Seto, priest seto & mana
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	in the mourning

Priest Set had never wanted to be Pharaoh.

That was always his cousin’s job. He couldn’t even say or think his cousin’s name without risking undoing everything his cousin had done to protect the world from darkness. He knew that he had every reason to do as his cousin asked and remove his name from every stone tablet, from every scripture they had, and never speak his name again. However, bitterly, he wanted to say his name. Maybe if the seal was broken... he’d return. His soul would come back and everything would be okay again. He’d get to see his cousin’s face again with those mischievous eyes and that sharp wit that only his cousin could deliver.

Unfortunately, or perhaps rather fortunately, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not after their last battle, the one when Priest Set had finally yielded to his cousin’s wishes. He had spent so long trying to find another way to seal the demon away and argued for so long. He was the last of the priests to agree to what was essentially the murder of his cousin. He refused to see it any other way. While his cousin had insisted it wasn’t murder, it was a sacrifice and he considered it a great honor, Priest Set had a hard time agreeing with his cousin’s point of view. He understood it, of course. The demon was seeking to feast on the souls of a human and most agreed the Pharaoh was a god in human form.

That’s what he had grown up being told, anyway. The Pharaoh was a divine ruler, a god in human form. His cousin might have been able to forge the Millennium Items with his own two hands, to pour his own powers into them but as far as Priest Set was concerned, that was more about having powerful magic on his side rather than being a god. After all... if his cousin had been a god, he wouldn’t be dead, Priest Set thought rather viciously. What sort of God just left their families like this? It felt like he had a gaping wound in his heart that would never fully close. His cousin had been the closest thing anyone had to being able to hold the sun and now it felt like every day was sunless. Why did the sun continue to rise when the reason it rose was now gone? He thought it rather rude of the Earth to continue to spin on without his cousin walking it.

Another vicious thought he had was to disobey his cousin’s last wishes. Let his name be spoken, let his name be found. He never wanted the job of Pharaoh, anyway. What did it matter now that his cousin was dead? What did anything matter now that his cousin would never again best him in a game of senet? His cousin would never live past the age of seventeen and that was a tragedy in its own right. His cousin’s name being erased from history and no one knowing the weight of his cousins actions was simply too much to bear. If he spoke his name, perhaps his cousin could rise from the ashes and take over his job again.

“Pharaoh,” someone had said and Priest Set had almost expected to see his cousin again. Suddenly, another bitter thought had crossed his mind: why couldn’t he have been the sacrifice? Both he and his cousin had the same magic powers. They both held the Millennium Items at the time. He could’ve been the one that had be sacrificed. Couldn’t he? He’d argued this but his cousin refused to listen to reason... always insisting on being the one to do the important things. Always insisting that he could not allow anyone else to be harmed. Well, piss on that because right now, Priest Set was harmed. “Pharaoh!”

“He’s not... oh,” Priest Set started before frowning. He had been about to say the Pharaoh wasn’t here but that wasn’t true. He wasn’t a priest anymore. And yet he couldn’t shake calling himself that. He wasn’t Pharaoh Set, he was Priest Set and it would have been better for everyone if he died with that title. He’d never longed for throne, never once considered it might be his birthright. It was always his cousin’s, for as long as he could remember. He didn’t even know that his cousin had been his cousin until a few short months before his death. He never got to know his cousin as family and it tugged at his heart in a strange way. “What do you want?”

He had turned to realize the voice belonged to Mana. She’d been his cousin’s best friend in life and his features softened from the glare he’d settled into since his cousin’s death. Mana knew how he felt. Or well, no. She didn’t know how he felt because she hadn’t lost a father and a cousin in one night. His father... he almost felt betrayed by the knowledge of his father. He’d almost wished that his father hadn’t been corrupted by the demon before they could seal it away. It had been what forced Set’s hand. His cousin’s death couldn’t be in vain. Akhenaden had desired this for Set. “I have shattered the puzzle and placed it in...,” she trailed off. Apparently she couldn’t bring herself to say that she’d placed it in his tomb. The tomb that his cousin had spent time in drawing beautiful portraits of Mana and the rest of the court. He always said he wanted to go with them in death and now that would never be the case. “That is to say... I completed the orders that... that he left us.”

Once again, he thought of the events that led to this. Mana had been there during the battle. She’d watched their friends and family fall one by one. She had learned of Akhenaden and Set’s relationship the same time Set had. It meant that Set had royal blood running through his veins. It meant that if his cousin died, he would be the one to inherit the throne. Set had said then that he didn’t want it and that the power belonged to his cousin. He meant it. He had fought so hard to avoid this until it was unavoidable. His cousin insisted that he must be sacrificed to seal away the evil that was corrupting Set’s father and the shadow games would be sealed with him. This was what his cousin wanted. His cousin, who begged Set to murder him. Well, to be fair, he never said murder. It was always “I must be sacrificed” and every time, Set had said no. Up until he didn’t.

Up until that night, when there had been no other choice. When his father had already ran his knife through his cousin’s chest. Set couldn’t get the look of horror upon the young king’s face out of his mind. Couldn’t get the horrified “you betrayed me, uncle” out of his ears either. His cousin had always tried to seem so much older and for the first time, Set was reminded how truly young his cousin was. His eyes were haunting him. The wide eyed, steel-grey eyes that didn’t understand political betrayal. All his cousin ever wanted was to do right by his people and he had decided with no one else’s input that the right thing to do for his people was to die. It just simply wasn’t right.

His cousin was so young and yet so determined. Once again: it truly wasn’t fair. Everything his cousin did, it was for the people. It was no wonder that the tomb that Mana had set the puzzle in had been so massive for only being built in seven short years. His cousin had taken the throne at only ten years old, when his father passed on. And yet in those short seven years, he had done more than most people had done in a lifetime. Set understood why everyone was mourning, really.

Moreover, his tomb was a subject that no one liked to talk about. It was incomplete according to most people. There was supposed to be more time to complete it it. On top of everything else, his cousin’s body wasn’t mummified if only because there had been no body. When his cousin died, he left nothing but the puzzle. And now even that was gone. “Is...” The other order. To remove his name so no one would ever know it. His cousin, the nameless Pharaoh. It wasn’t right. Everyone should know the name of the young man that gave his life to save the world. No one would know his name. “Is his name...”

“I... I scratched it out, yes,” Mana replied, her voice shaking. Priest Set frowned. He wasn’t expecting to have to deal with Mana’s emotions on top of his own. He could barely hold his own self together. How could he piece together someone else? Mana had lost her best friend and her mentor in that battle. Mahad... a loyal servant of the Pharaoh, loyal to his last breath. At least Mahad would never be forgotten. Priest Set would make sure of that. “He... he won’t be returning.”

That was it, then. His cousin was gone. He couldn’t ask Mana to go against the Pharaoh’s wishes. Not when she was looking at him like that. Not when she’d addressed him with his cousin’s title. It must’ve been painful to have to scratch her best friend’s name out because he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was supposed to be his job, after all. His cousin had always said that it was important for a leader to take responsibility into one’s own hands. His cousin had always been wise beyond his years. Ever since he was put on the throne at only ten years old, really. He had been forced to grow up so quickly that perhaps he had lived a fuller life than anyone else.

Set had never wanted to be Pharaoh. And yet here he was. It was his mantle to take up. All he could do was hope to make his cousin proud. He would be a worthy successor, earn the title. And it started right here. “We better get to work on making sure the rest of the times do not fall into the wrong hands, then,” Priest Set said with a shaky breath. “It would be a rather poor way to honor him if we did not.”

It was not fair, nor was it right. However, his cousin had risked everything to give them this moment of safety and to make sure that the land would be free from evil. It would be Pharaoh Set’s job to honor the sacrifice his cousin had made.


End file.
